The OKR certification offered by The KPI Institute reflects its commitment to guide organizations in improving their performance and nurturing a culture that values growth and innovation. But how does OKR make this happen? What is its actual role in decision-making and employee empowerment?

Here’s what Human Hardy, a business research analyst at The KPI Institute, wrote in his article “How does OKR transform organizations into a high-performance culture?”

Objectives and key results or OKR is a goal-setting tool used for measuring organizational/departmental/individual objectives through challenging and ambitious key results. Extracted from the organization’s visions and missions and aligned with the department’s goals, OKR involves activities such as planning, activating, managing, and adjusting.

With OKRs, teams can cascade and align goals to the different levels of an organization, defining outcome-based key results that help verify the success of the objective. OKRs act as a guide for daily work and connect all employees to a larger purpose, which is what the organization intends to achieve.

If OKRs are perceived as more than just a goal-setting tool and instead as a communication one, it shows why the OKRs are brilliant at building a high-performance culture. The effort of achieving daily goals at the individual and team levels eventually leads to the achievement of the overall objectives at the organization level in the long run.

As a result, when implemented correctly, OKRs can help a company enable a high-performance culture and achieve far more than their team thought possible. OKRs help the organization adopts performance culture in the following ways:

OKRs provide organizations with a clear direction, coordination, control, and orientation.

Direction, coordination, control, and external collaboration play a vital role in helping organizations jump from their current state to the state they want to achieve. To guide the organization in achieving what they desire, it’s important that the organization ensures that its vision and strategic clarity are understood by the stakeholders in every layer, and while doing so, the organization must also facilitate the involvement of its employees.

OKR helps organizations align priorities and make sure everyone at every level in the organization moves towards the same goals. Employees must be given the opportunity to provide their insights when the organization decides in the next 12 months. It is recommended to start with an OKR workshop where all key stakeholders responsible for company strategy ask for and gather input from employees on what they think the top priorities should be.

Those inputs can then be aligned with the existing company strategy and broken down into three to five OKRs. The process can be done using collaborative notes and documents or even a whiteboard to ensure that collaboration and ideas are well-captured. The goal of the process is to reach an agreement on what priorities should be achieved in the following year.

The process is then followed by aligning the company OKRs with team and individual OKRs. OKRs provide teams and individuals with a clear set of directions and achievements. OKRs are also a reason to remove things that are unrelated to the scope of the objective they wanted to achieve, keeping their focus and avoiding unnecessary activities or resources.

If every team gets the opportunity to create their own OKRs that they will be working on in a particular quarter, for example, it can assure a successful OKR program while helping the organization realize its strategy and maintain its focus.

OKRs increase employees’ motivation, innovation, capabilities, and accountability.

OKRs can be used to develop a set of productive behaviors that establish an essential motivating culture. Through the process of building OKRs, employees set the outcomes they’ll achieve. These outcomes are in line with the organization’s setup that supports autonomy and motivation.

In addition, OKRs focus on outcomes over outputs. It is a way to resolve organizational problems and gives employees the flexibility to experiment, innovate, and think outside the box. It also allows a humanistic approach, rather than a systemic approach. OKRs promote positive behavior by providing continuous reflection and iteration about the organization’s goals, sharing progress updates, and keeping goals collaborative, all while observing freedom and trust.

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To learn more about OKR implementation and how it impacts an organization’s performance, check out The KPI Institute’s Certified OKR Professional course.

OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results. It is a goal management framework that contains a maximum of five objectives and five key results for each objective. OKR, an approach successfully adopted by Google, connects vision and reality in an organization. With the OKR methodology, everyone’s work is aligned and focused on achieving the same goals. 

When done right, OKR can be beneficial for organizations, especially when there are a lot of uncertainties. According to a survey held by Mind the Product and NEO culture, companies consider increased transparency across their organization as the main benefit of using OKR. More than half of the respondents reported being able to monitor and update the probability of key result achievements. 

Andrew Constable, founder of early-stage business & product consultancy firm Visualise Solutions, said that OKRs help build a “culture of shared purpose.” He points out that under OKR, everyone is moving in the same direction and working on things that truly matter.

Alina Miertoiu, a senior management consultant at The KPI Institute, explained in her article “OKR Essentials – Simplified Performance Management” that the OKR approach asks the questions, “Where do I want to go?” “How will I know I’m getting there?” and “What will I do when I arrive?”

She believes that OKRs are suitable for agile organizations because their work requires regular updates and is open to changing goals and results. An OKR-focused system can help organizations take higher-risk objectives instead of operational ones. The methodology also leads to higher employee engagement because it encourages employees to be creative and take risks.

Alignment, not cascading, is key to OKRs, according to Alina. “When setting their own OKRs, employees should take into consideration their own responsibilities, the strategic direction, the already-established OKRs or the management’s aspirations in the organizational context,” she wrote.

“It is recommended that an employee’s OKRs are actionable by that person, so it’s harder to assign OKRs or create a set of general OKRs for a position,” she added.

If you would like to explore further how your organization can benefit from using OKRs, Alina is facilitating The KPI Institute’s Certified OKR Professional Live Online training course on 21 – 25 February 2022. 

Discover the benefits of stretched goals, understand how OKRs work in different contexts, and identify best practices for aligning OKRs across the organization. Experience developing a comprehensive project plan for an OKRs implementation and creating communication templates to gather data for OKRs measurement.

Get more details about the course and register here.

If 2020 was the year for survival mode, 2021 was the year for adapting to changes that came our way. Adaptability is not just about keeping up with modern technologies and trends. It’s more about how we use them to accelerate change and foster a culture of innovation in the workplace, and this won’t be possible without valuing learning and development.

That is why The KPI Institute continues to deliver quality live-online certification programs in strategy and performance management. These learning sessions are designed to help organizations and professionals address business challenges, gain competencies, and achieve results.  They are packed with tools, frameworks, resources, exercises, and expert recommendations.

Before we put 2021 behind us, let us revisit the courses that made a mark on you. According to our data, here are the top live-online training programs of The KPI Institute that received the highest number of participants last year.

1. KPI Certified Professional and Practitioner: “Embedding more than 15 years of research, this educational program will provide you the necessary knowledge and skills to differentiate yourself from other professionals through a rigorous and structured approach to measuring performance.”
2. Strategy and Business Planning Professional Certification: “The course aims to offer participants a chance to build up a strategic mind-frame, understand key strategy planning concepts, use strategy planning tools, in individual and team exercises, and reflect on the best practices in the field through case studies and debates.”
3. Balanced Scorecard Management System Professional Certification: “The training course provides the pillars, tools, and resources required for an immediate application and Balanced Scorecard Management System in your own organization.”
4.  Certified Performance Management Professional and Practitioner Certifications: In this course, participants will “Obtain a premium recognition for your competencies both as a professional and practitioner to demonstrate your ability to monitor and improve current performance levels in different scenarios, in a standardized and effective manner.”
5. Certified OKR Professional: “The three-day course trains participants in how to set and work with OKRs and offers them the opportunity to get certified on the ability to deploy and use OKRs in accordance.”

To learn more about other certification programs, check out the Performance Management Training Calendar 2022.

2020 is slowly, but surely, coming to a close. We are already halfway through November, with December creeping up on us. We can almost hear a distant, faint Mariah Carey, singing ”All I want for Christmas is You”.

We have had an extraordinary year, completely revamping our certifications and moving them into the online environment. What followed was simply astounding.

Our attendance numbers went through the roof. We began delivering around 6-10 courses a week, instead of our regular 3-4, and participants flooded our events, which was direct feedback that our mission was a success.

Whilst there are still a few weeks left in 2020 – 5 to be specific, we will continue to deliver the same level of quality content in all of our certifications, so if you have not had the chance to sign up for any of the courses, we highly recommend you give them a look-see HERE.

Up until the 14^th of December, we’ll still be going strong with numerous events, focusing on a wide variety of topics, from KPIs, OKRs, performance management, and supplier performance, to strategy and business planning, innovation performance, data analysis, and employee performance management.

Keep a lookout on our social media channels – Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, to always be updated on which courses are next, and how can you sign up for them, in the remaining 5 weeks.

Whilst 2020 has been a challenging year, we know we can finish strong, and look forward to a much brighter and better 2021.

If you’re interested in learning how to manage your very own Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) system, tune in to our Certified OKR Professional Live Online Course, between the 8^th – 12^th of June, 2020, 09:00 – 13:00 GST EMEA time, 13:00 – 17:00 GMT +8 ASEAN time.

This course is a 40-hour learning experience, delivered by one of foremost consultants, Alina Miertoiu. Over the course of 5 days, you will understand how to set and work with OKRs, being granted the opportunity of receiving a certification on your ability to deploy and use OKRs, in accordance with The KPI Institute’s standards.

What will you learn – C-OKR Learning Objectives

• Differentiate between objectives, Key Results and Initiatives;
• Recognize different types of OKRs;
• Acknowledge the benefits of stretched goals;
• Understand OKR setting in different contexts;
• Apply best practice techniques to align OKRs across the organization;
• Comprehend the review and decision making process.

What’s in it for you – Benefits

• Support fast decision making by fostering constant feedback and communication;
• Access an innovative learning experience based on a 3 stage educational process;
• Obtain premium recognition as a Certified OKR
• Professional by completing a unique international learning program;
• Expand your business network by becoming a member of the international Certified OKR Professionals Community;
• Champion the use of a rigorous OKRs process within organizations.

Presenter profile

Alina Miertoiu is a Senior Consultant within The KPI Institute. She is a Certified KPI Professional and Certified OKR Professional, and has delivered over 1000 training & consulting hours last year.

Alina’s recent research and consulting work in the field of strategy execution and performance improvement lead to the development of the training course and advisory services on OKRs, as well as the establishment of the GCC Utilities Performance Program, dedicated to electricity utilities.

In addition to this, some of Alina’s most significant research projects have focused on developing a benchmarking study in the utilities sector for Water, Gas and Electricity organizations, as well as a National Development Indices Catalogue, containing 57 fully documented indices, in a standardized format.

Since the OKRs methodology is the new trend in goal management, we are trying to expand our related learning services and products where the market demands. Last month, during 20^th-22^nd, we reached Bangkok, through our Senior Management Consultant, Alina Miertoiu.Most of the participants came from the consultancy and entrepreneurship or HR fields, and were eager to learn the secrets of a successful OKR implementation strategy in different organizational contexts, from a practical point of view. We strive to deliver practical and hands-on material, so a big part of this course focused on debriefing several exercises designed to simulate every step of the OKR implementation process.

Similar to our other Certified OKR Professional courses, all of the participants were very interested in how to link OKRs with compensation and bonuses, which was a recurring discussion topic during the three-day learning experience.

Course journal

While the topics and agenda stay roughly the same for most of our OKR courses, each delivery represents a unique experience. Here is the story behind our course adventure in Bangkok.

Day I

Just as it is with any first day, this one started off by introducing the company and the facilitator, being followed up by a short self-presentation from each participant, which included their expectations and interests in the topics at hand. After that, we started discussing about OKRs, what they are, how they are different and their benefits. The highlight of the day were the exercises based on hybrid systems comprised from KPIs and OKRs.

Day II

The second day started off with an overview and recap of the first day, however the most interesting part was when we began simulating OKRs setting and alignment. Participants received a case study and each one of them was assigned a certain position in the company.

The main task was to go through all the steps of an OKR-setting process and ensure alignment between all the levels. Participants showed a lot of involvement and considered the exercise to highly engaging, given the fact that it presented them with hands-on experience, even though it was based on a case study.

Day III

During last day of the course, we continued with the case study from the prior day, followed by an OKRs review exercise, in order to help participants understand the OKRs review process as well as prepare them for this type of activity. We discussed several issues which can appear during the OKRs review process, such as employees’ lack of satisfaction or involvement – and the way we should address them.

We’d like to congratulate all of the participants for their drive and involvement, as well as for their energy during the course and we hope that in future we can see you at our next course and write even more amazing stories.

Sign-ups and registration!

As performance is a constant preoccupation, we would be more than happy to assist you throughout your performance journey!

If you enjoyed reading our course journal and feel that this learning environment would be suitable for your needs, why not visit our training calendar and check what best suits your learning needs?

If you’re someone that does not have a lot of time on their hands, to go to a course in person, we also have online training courses that align well with Performance Management topics:

• Certified Performance Management Professional
• Certified KPI Professional

Otherwise, if the opportunity of customized training courses is of interest to you or you’d like to know more information, contact Alina Miertoiu directly, at [email protected].

Another month has passed and another Certified OKR Professional training course in Kuala Lumpur was facilitated by our Senior Consultant, Alina Miertoiu. As per usual, we would like to share with you our experience and the unique story of this course. Every course is different, but what makes it special are the people who join it, their expectations, their involvement and their enthusiasm.

We particularly enjoyed organizing this course and welcoming our participants from different industries, such as consulting, higher education, IT or Utilities, during the 15^th-18^th of July. The learning experience was based mostly on discussions and debriefing different activities, since most of our participants were practitioners in the field of OKRs.

Regarding expectations, participants shared that they were interested in the overall process of OKRs implementation and what makes OKRs different than other performance management systems.

One other main discussion topic when it comes to OKRs is compensation, more specifically how to reward employees when the theory says you should not link OKRs with rewards.

Course journal  

During all three days, the participants were full of energy and throughout the entire course the learning process was based mostly on discussions and practical exercises, since all attendees were really interested in the subject and very active.

Day I

During the first day, we began with the already familiar introduction and was a bit more theoretical, to ensure that everyone has the same understanding and that similar terminology is used. The difference between OKRs and other systems, especially KPIs based systems, were discussed to great lengths and a lot of practical knowledge was shared by all the attendees.

Day II

The second day was mostly focused on OKRs setting and aligning. Participants simulated a governmental entity, which implemented the OKRs system and each one received a certain role within the Government. The exercise started with long-term objectives setting for the organization and followed all the steps down to OKRs setting for all employees.

Day III

The most exciting part of the third day was a review process simulating the different moments within a quarter, with the facilitator being the employee whose OKRs were reviewed and the participants her managers. Once again, the facilitator tried to challenge the participants and played the role of a “bad cop”. At the end the course, there was a short review session and then the certification exam.

A special thanks from us at The KPI Institute to our amazing participants who were filled with enthusiasm and curiosity, as well as with the desire to learn from the group and share their experiences.

Sign-ups and registration!

As performance is a constant preoccupation, we would be more than happy to assist you throughout your performance journey!

If you enjoyed reading our course journal and feel that this learning environment would be suitable for your needs, why not visit our training calendar and check what best suits your learning needs?

• Certified OKR Professional
• Certified Performance Management Professional
• Certified KPI Professional

If you’re someone that does not have a lot of time on their hands, to go to a course in person, we also have online training courses that align well with Performance Management topics:

Otherwise, if the opportunity of customized training courses is of interest to you or you’d like to know more information, contact Alina Miertoiu directly, at [email protected].

We are delighted to announce that our first 3-day Certified OKR Professional training course took place in Dubai, during the 30th of June – 2nd of July, 2019. It was facilitated by our Senior Consultant on OKRs – Alina Miertoiu, and attended by participants mostly from the public sector. Managing directors, Doctors, Consultants or Strategic planners joined us in this learning experience.Since most of our attendees had already worked with OKRs or tried to implement the system in their organization, their expectations were high and made the course much more challenging.

For starters, they were interested in gaining theoretical and practical knowledge that they could easily convey to their colleagues and apply in their organizations.

Secondly, they were interested in the particularities of OKRs, compared to other Performance Management Systems and how to set correct OKRs. Moreover, another major expectation was understanding how to review and readjust OKRs, as well as engaging employees in the process.

Course journal

Although in theory, the OKRs system is a simple one, as Andy Groove used to describe it: “The objective is the direction. The Key result has to be measurable, but at the end you can look and without any argument say: <Did I do that, or did I not do that?> Yes. No. Simple!”

OKRs are all about good execution, rather than the system itself, so our three-day learning experience combines theory with practical case studies and exercises, in order to facilitate a better understanding.

Day I

Day one starts with an icebreaker, some general exercises, and few generic discussions on OKRs meant to encourage participants to engage during the course and actively participate. It is the most theoretical part of the course and a challenge in and of itself, since a lot of uncertainties about the topic are addressed and debated.

Given that there is yet a lot of confusion about the topic, this day can be regarded as the foundation of the course, during which we introduced the concepts of Objectives and Key results, and addressed particular aspects that participants found interesting or peculiar.

Day II

The second day was the most engaging , as participants had to set OKRs for different organizational levels based on three different cased studies. One case study portrayed a general organization, the second one depicted a very innovative organization, while the third referenced a governmental entity.

The scope of these exercises was to make participants understand how the setting and alignment processes change based on different contexts.

Day III

This day was also very dynamic, full of exercises and constructive discussions, revolving around topics such as OKR review and change management, in order to find out how to engage one’s employees in the process of working with OKRs. Moreover, the “cherry on top” of the course’s final day represented simulating a review process in practice.

Sign-ups and registration!

As performance is a constant preoccupation, we would be more than happy to assist you throughout your performance journey!

If you enjoyed reading our course journal and feel that this learning environment would be suitable for your needs, why not visit our training calendar and check what best suits your learning needs?

• Certified OKR Professional
• Certified Performance Management Professional
• Certified KPI Professional

If you’re someone that does not have a lot of time on their hands, to go to a course in person, we also have online training courses that align well with Performance Management topics:

Otherwise, if the opportunity of customized training courses is of interest to you or you’d like to know more information, contact Alina Miertoiu directly, at [email protected].

We are proud to announce that between the 20^th–22^nd of March 2019, Alina Miertoiu, Senior Consultant for The KPI Institute, hosted the first Certified OKR Professional 3-day training course in Kuala Lumpur.

Participants from various functional areas, such as trainers, consultants, sales professionals, HR professionals, CEOs or IT Product Development joined us for this learning experience.

The main expectations of the attendees from the course were to:

• Understand what OKRs are;
• Understand what key results are and how to set them;
• Understand the difference between OKRs and other Performance Measurement Tools;
• Understand how to align OKRs between different organizational levels, especially at the employee level;
• How to set OKRs for specific functional areas.

Course journal

The C-OKR training course provides a deeper understanding on how to set and work with OKRs, in order to support fast decision-making and innovative thinking.

The three days learning experience blends the theory and best practices, with case studies meant to increase the understanding of the main concepts through practical applications.

Day I

The most engaging part of Day 1 was the exercise highlighting what makes the OKR system a hot topic nowadays, and how is it different from KPIs or MBO.

Attendees were also introduced to the concept of stretched goals, which are meant to push the employees and the organization to do more than what is expected and to the various types of OKRs, such as aspirational and committed ones. It was definitely a very challenging day, with a lot of questions being asked and several debates taking place.

Day II

During Day 2, which was a more practical and hands-on day, the participants’ view on performance measurement and cascading was challenged.

Emphasis was placed on the importance on having all employees able to understand the strategic objectives of the organization, and create quarterly personal objectives, which go beyond just operational work, focusing on adding value and working towards achieving strategical objectives.

Day III

Day three was quite dynamic, since it was wholly dedicated to a third case study for OKR selection and alignment, and ended with these OKRs’ review.

Based on the data provided, participants were asked to simulate intermediate or final OKR review sessions, while I, as the facilitator, took part as the responsible employee for those OKRs.

I made sure to play the “bad cop” role for the first time, so that the review could feel more than just a simulation, with attendees considering this exercise one of most successful one.

Sign-ups and registration!

As performance is a constant preoccupation, we would be more than happy to assist you throughout your performance journey!

If you enjoyed reading our course journal and feel that this learning environment would be suitable for your needs, why not visit our training calendar and check what best suits your learning needs?

If you’re someone that does not have a lot of time on their hands, to go to a course in person, we also have online training courses that align well with Performance Management topics:

• Certified Performance Management Professional
• Certified KPI Professional

Otherwise, if the opportunity of customized training courses is of interest to you or you’d like to know more information, contact Alina Miertoiu directly, at alina.miertoiu@@kpiinstitute.com.